If you’re not being treated with love and respect, check your price tag. Perhaps you have marked yourself down. It’s you who tells people what you’re worth by what you accept. Get off the clearance rack and get behind the glass where they keep the valuables. Learn to value yourself more. If you don’t, no one else will.

This summer I got a wild hair and wanted the kitties to have a screened-in porch attached to the house. My idea was that they be able to go in an out as they pleased. I drew up a design that included a cedar shake roof and metal-capped cupola and waited for my husband to come home.

He’s somewhat used to these requests, and always indulges my ideas. Well, almost always. Which is saying a lot because they inevitably involve hours of custom work by a skilled artisan.

Being a structural engineer, he has the talent. Even when he doesn’t have the time, he finds it.

With a smile on his face, measurements recorded, and a materials list compiled, off he went to get what he needed. I had NO idea how involved the building of the kitty porch would be; it even had to be wired and screened for safety! I felt guilty as I watched my sweet husband sweat and build and measure and construct. But he said he was happy. He likes to keep busy.

And Voila! I’m so tickled to present the custom screened-in kitty porch, replete with a brick foundation that matches our historical home! Oreo and Frankie love it. My husband and I do too!

In the photo above, Frankie is in the porch; he’s to the right (his green eyes are just about all you can see), but look closely and you’ll see him. And in the picture below (which I took from the opening inside the house), Frankie is watching a bird on the patio.

This last picture is the garden view from Oreo and Frankie’s porch. They are two happy kitties!